Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We've got lots of pictures and wanted to share them with everyone. Karen made a gingerbread house at preschool.

On Christmas morning we had a lot of fun. Karen woke up first and Daddy told her she could go look in her stocking. She was so excited that she looked in Michael's too, though thankfully she didn't open his. She got a slinky which is what she asked Santa for. She was very excited. Michael finally woke up and we had to do a lot of persuading to get daddy out of bed. The kids had a lot of fun opening each gift and we had a lot of fun seeing their expressions as they opened them. Michael got stickers and used them all right there and then, though he shared them with everyone too.Michael also got a slinky and this is what he did with his.

We all had a lot of fun and the kids especially had fun playing with each toy they opened so it took a while to get through everything. They especially loved playing together with each other's toys. Hopefully they will keep sharing and enjoying their new toys together.

Moving Forward

We are so excited! We have had our bid on the home officially accepted! Now comes all the fun things we have to do before closing like the inspection, the loan, title company, insurance, etc. etc. It's all moving forward and we have to close by Jan 15th or sooner! We're working toward sooner. I still can't believe it's real, the nearly perfect home for a price we can afford! What a wonderful Christmas present and an awesome blessing from the Lord. If anyone knows of an interior house painter that's good and reasonably priced, please let us know.

Playing in the Snow

A couple days ago when it had snowed all day, in the late afternoon after naps and a whole day of kids begging to go play in the snow and build a snowman, I finally gave in and bundled us all up and we went and played in the freshly fallen snow. It was light and fluffy and we could not make snowballs let alone a snowman, but it was perfect for snow angels and running around in. Karen and Michael would pick it up and throw it in the air and laugh as it fell on them. They had a blast. Karen ran all over and Michael stayed in one place and wouldn't move. It was fun. We stayed out long enough for Neils to come home finding us all covered in snow and he decided to join in. Such a fun memory to have family snow day. Here's some cute pictures. Here's Michael trying to make a snowball.








Karen's beautiful snow angel,
and Daddy getting hit with snow by both kids.

THE House

It's amazing! An offer we placed on a home has been accepted! We are so excited!!!!! It's not completely official until we sign some paperwork on Monday, but it is the perfect home for us and has nearly everything we have wanted. It will be quite an adjustment for us, we'll be moving from West Valley all the way to Riverton, but we believe that God led us to this home and made everything fall into place for us so that we could be there. There must be a reason. We're very excited and hope that everything will continue to fall into place for this home. Thanks everyone for your help and support during this time of change in our lives. Hopefully in about a month we'll be needing more help moving into our new home. Here's the MLS# if you want to check it out. MLS#840428

Christmas Tag

I got this as an email and thought it would be fun to post here.

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Change all the answers so that they apply to you and post it on your blog. Tag "you" are it.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial
3. When do you put up the tree? Thanksgiving weekend
4. When do you take the tree down? Around the new year
5. Do you like egg nog ? Winder Farms eggnog is the best!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? My favorite cereal
7. Hardest person to buy for? In-laws
8. Easiest person to buy for? My kids
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Several
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Usually mail, but haven't been able to this year
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Any gift is good
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Miracle on 34th Street (the original version)
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? In September or October
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Try not to
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Chocolate
16. Lights on the tree? Of course
17. Favorite Christmas song? Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart and Joy to the World
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? There's no place like home
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes, if I sing the song
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Changes each year
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Mean shoppers
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Homemade this year
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Turkey, potatoes, veggies and homemade rolls
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? To find a home

Christmas Party Fun & House Hunting

See Neils blog www.neilsstarkrants.blogspot.com for the latest happenings in our family. Jen doesn't have access to the internet very often and hasn't had much time to update our blog.

Christmas is Coming

Well, we have decorated for Christmas. Well, sort of. We brought our Christmas tree with us, but forgot to bring any other decorations, so the kids and I have started making our own homemade ornaments for the tree. Here a few examples.

It's been fun to do a few holiday preparations, it helps us to get in the spirit of the season.

On other subjects, our home searching has been quite frustrating. It's been three weeks since we bid on a home and we haven't been accepted or rejected or anything, so this week we went looking for other homes. I've seen probably 20-30 homes and we've only found a few that might even be possible, and we are still searching. We'd love to find something sooner than later since our rent is more than our mortgage was, but we may have to wait. Pray for us.

Games

Christmas is coming and just a reminder that I sell games. Check the website out here: http://www.yourgameguru.com/xc/home.php

If you'd like to order anything just email me with the name of the game and I can order it for you and get you 15% off the listed price. Let me know before the 15th and I should be able to get it for you unless it says "BACKORDER" on the website. Most should be in stock. Those in stock are located in West Jordan so it's easy to get them and deliver them to you quickly.

Some fun games are listed below.

Kids games: Hiss, Penguins, Blink

Family: Blokus, Can't Stop, PickTwo, Five Crowns

Adult: Wits & Wagers, Carcassonne, San Juan

Happy Thanksgiving

What a wonderful day! We actually had a very nice day today with Neils family. All the siblings were there and all their children. Karen and Michael were in heaven playing all day with their cousins. They were actually very well behaved which made the day go very nicely. We even went around the tables and said something that we were grateful for. It was really nice.

We hope that you all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

We are finally settling in to our apartment. There were a few things that needed to be fixed, a drawer in the kitchen wouldn't open, the door knob in the kids room wouldn't open from the inside (though the kids could get out, I don't know how they did that) and a couple other things. They've all been fixed now which is nice. It's been interesting getting used to the smaller quarters. The kids were really excited to share a room and they are loving it now, though it does make going to sleep a much longer process. Michael and Karen have certainly adjusted to our new "home" more quickly than we have, but we are settled for the time being.

All Moved In

Well, thanks to family, friends and ward members, we were able to move out of our house and into our apartment in about 3 hours this morning. Whew! We are so grateful to all that helped and especially grateful to Neils parents for taking the kids so that they wouldn't be underfoot and we could fully concentrate on the move.

Everything is scattered right now. I'm trying to find a place for everything and apartments are definitely smaller than houses and even though I tried to prepare for that, I guess I didn't do it correctly especially in the kitchen cause I have way more stuff than can fit in those cupboards. Oh well, learning to live with less can be good for us and will work for the time we'll be in the apartment.

Packing, packing, packing

Whistle while you work....... Well I can't whistle, but we've been working a lot lately getting ready to move. It's amazing how many "things" we've collected over the 6 years we've lived here. It's been nice to go through some of the stuff and take a bunch to the DI and throw some of the junk away. It's been a crazy week for us with boxes everywhere but getting the POD has made it a bit easier. We hope to have everything packed up by tomorrow so that when our helpers come on Saturday it shouldn't be too hard or take to long to load everything up.

We closed on our house today and signed all the papers, so our house is no longer ours. On the other hand, right now we are completely debt free. That's a nice thought.

Wouldn't you know it though, the kids have both been sick this week with a little fever that lasts 2 days. Karen had it first on Monday and Tuesday and now Michael has it. I guess it's his turn. Just a little more to take care of during this busy week. At least after Saturday, the moving thing will be over with for a couple of months.

Finding out

Well we found out today that they removed the home we bid on from the auction block, but we also found out that it's going to take about 2-3 weeks before we are approved by the bank board and at least 6 weeks before we can close on it. Fun stuff hu?

So we will be spending the holidays in an apartment this year. We finally found one, thanks to my sister Rosalie, that will lease to us for just 2 months and month to month if we need it longer. It's really close to where our first apartment was so it brings back a lot of memories.

It really is a lot less stressful to know where we will be living, even if we don't know for sure about our house at least we have a place to go after we close on this house. By the way, we'd love to have everyone who is available come help us on Saturday morning at 9:00 am to help us move. We appreciate all those who have told us that they will help, we look forward to seeing you soon.

Another Offer

Well, we found another home, just around the corner from the last home we put an offer on. This one is a short sale that was just about to go into foreclosure, but we put in our offer just in time. It hasn't been officially accepted, but they said if we offered a certain amount that they would accept it. So we offered that amount. We should hear the official word on Monday, but things seem to be falling into place. They even said that they could close in 3 weeks which means we will be in our new house before Christmas. Yeah!

I was tagged and asked to post the 6th picture in my 6th folder, so here goes.

Wow, I just posted family pictures and would you believe it's a family picture we had taken almost exactly 3 years ago, how bout that?

The 6 people I tag are Cindy, Pam, Sarah, Jessica, Heather & Kristina.

Family Pictures

We went a few weeks ago and got family pictures taken. They turned out so cute I thought I'd share. I finally got them scanned in and thought I'd post them for all to see.

We had a lot of fun and got some wonderful pictures. Doesn't Karen look just beautiful? And Karen and Michael holding hands is just the sweetest picture. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Quick Update

Ah, the highs and lows of house hunting and the bidding game. Tonight was a low. We found out that they wouldn't accept our offer and countered with the full asking price which we just can't afford. We were disappointed, but we are sure there is something out there for us and we have faith that the Lord will show the way.

So back to the drawing board. Except this time we'll be looking for a place that we can rent for a month or two while we look for a home.

Great Possibilities

Life has changed so much in just one week. Last Sunday we were telling everyone at church that we were going to take our house off the market and stay here for another few years. We were even planning on finishing the basement and fixing the yard. Now, just one week later, we have sold our home and are planning to move in just two weeks. Crazy!

We've even found a house that we love in a neighborhood that we love and we put an offer on it yesterday. If our offer is accepted, the people living there have even said that they can be out of their house the same weekend we are moving out of our house. It's incredible. There would only be a couple of days or at most a week between moving out of our house and into that home....if it all works out that is. Now we wait to see if our offer is accepted. We should find out tomorrow. The house isn't too far away from our current home either, just down about 5400 S and 5600 West.

Life sure is lively right now and full of possibilities. If this doesn't work, I'm sure we'll find something else. I can tell that the Lord is watching out for us and leading our lives.

House Hunting

I've been house hunting like crazy! In 2 days I've seen about 18 homes and driven by several more. There is a lot of very sad homes out there and a few very nice homes out there. I've narrowed the field and I'm taking Neils and the kids with me to revisit a few to see if they could fit our needs.

However, we really don't want to rush into anything, especially since we want a home we can live in for a long, long time, so we are also looking for temporary housing until we can find that perfect home. There are a few homes in our current neighborhood that we will be checking on tomorrow to see if we can rent those for a month or two or however long it takes to find our home. So it looks like we will be moving twice. Oh well, better this way then to have 2 mortgages, right?

Thanks to all for your support and help. We may take more of you up on your offers to watch the kids and help us move. Thanks.

I Can't Believe It

Well, we had decided to take our house off the market, but hadn't quite told our realtor yet when out of the blue, yesterday we got an offer on our house. We countered yesterday and today they accepted! Total shock, but good. I'm so excited! We didn't think that it would happen, so I haven't been looking at houses lately and now begins the scramble to find the house we want. Our buyers want to be in our house the weekend before Thanksgiving which doesn't give us much time and might mean that we will need to find temporary housing before finding the home we want to buy, but it's a step in the right direction and I am thrilled! Neils hates moving and isn't quite as thrilled, but he'll come around when we find the home we want.

We are sad to leave the wonderful neighborhood, ward, and especially the great friends we've made in this area, but we won't be moving too far away, so we will definitely keep the friends we've made here. Change is good. Wish us luck. Keep us in your prayers. We'll keep you updated on the latest goings on.

Disaster Children

So this morning as I slept in a bit and Neils helped the kids get dressed, the kids decided to have some fun in Karen's closet with all the extra hangers I have. This is their creation. They were so proud.

More Halloween Fun

Well, we made it! We made it through 5 different trick-or-treating events. 2 last weekend one at Karen's preschool, daddy's work and finally the big one around the neighborhood. It was fun and we have way too much candy now. The kids have been on a sugar rush for a week now, I'm tempted to make it all disappear. I guess it will be gone soon enough and kids should enjoy the spoils of Halloween. Karen wore 3 different costumes this year and Michael wore one. Here are a few pictures. Here's Karen's fairy costume at Preschool.

Here we are at Neils' work

Here the kids are ready to go trick-or-treating on Halloween night

And off they go. Isn't it cute that they are following Daddy so well.

There are no pictures of me because I didn't dress up this year. Oh well, maybe next year.

Halloweening

We've had a very fun Halloween filled weekend. Yesterday was our ward's trunk-or-treat Halloween party at our church house and then tonight was my sister-in-law's Halloween party at their church building. They had carnival type activities at both parties, dinner, cupcakes, cakes, plus trunk-or-treating at ours and trick-or-treating in the classrooms at our in-law's. Very busy, very fun and the kids loved it. They were bouncing off the walls by the time we got home with a candy buzz, but they loved it. I'm so done with Halloween and we still have another week until the actual holiday. Oh well.

Here are the kids all dressed up in their costumes at the party. Karen and Michael are "ruff"ing in the picture though it sounded more like a roar.These are their cousins

And this is a close up of the kids faces. Did I do good?

I was thinking that with all the candy they got at these two events that we don't need to take the kids out trick-or-treating on Halloween. I mentioned this to Neils and he said that he still wants to take the kids around the neighborhood. Must be his inner-child needing to get out and celebrate the holiday. Well, at least we'll have candy for the next three months or more.

California Proposition 8

I usually let Neils take care of the political stuff, but I do believe in being informed. After reading this I think it is important for people to know what this is about and know how it will affect us even though we don't live in California. There is a clip from a news program that I found most interesting and informative about how this will affect our families and children, it's the second "Click Here" if you don't want to read through all of it.

An email was sent to me from my sister and here is some of what was in it.

I have done most of the work putting together all the good resources about this proposition so people can read about it through this email or blog. With the links already set. Read below and you will see. Also important dates for getting your absentee ballots and mail in votes...plus the links to do it! Hopefully this takes the work out of voting for everyone and the work out of researching it.

Failure to pass Proposition 8 will hurt children. If gay marriage remains legal, public schools will put it on equal footing with traditional marriage. Children will likely receive 'age appropriate' information about sexual relations within heterosexual and homosexual marriages.

Failure to pass Proposition 8 will hurt churches. The court's decision will inevitably lead to conflicts with religious liberty and free speech rights. Society will become more and more hostile to traditional beliefs about marriage and family. Over time, greater acceptance of nontraditional marriage will be demanded of all people. This could impact the ability of any religion to teach and practice its beliefs. Including adoption agencies.

A YES vote will not hurt gays. In California, the law provides for marriage-related benefits to be given to civil unions and domestic partnerships. Proposition 8 does not diminish these benefits.

For your information:On Friday, October 10th, 2008 a first-grade class took a field trip to witness a lesbian wedding in California. Click Here for the article from the San Francisco Chronicle. A father in Massachusetts was frustrated when his twin kindergartners were taught about homosexuality at school by the teachers. He insisted he be notified in the future before such things were discussed so he could pull his boys out of school. He was taken to jail. Click Here for the story.

A Catholic adoption agency In the UK closed their doors because of the Government's new homosexual equality laws. The Equality Act forbids discrimination in the provision of goods and services on the basis of sexual orientation. The law was forced through Parliament last year despite past Prime Minister Tony Blair's recommendation that Catholic adoption agencies be exempted from the rules. Click Here for more info. http://www.tldm.org/News12/UKCatholicAdoptionAgencyForcedToCloseDoors.htm

Earlier this month judges in Conneticut overturned the state law (just as the judges in California did) to legalized gay marriage. This is not just an issue in California. We voted years ago to keep traditional marriage as the only marriage recognized in the state of California, 4 judges overturned our vote…and we need to fight back. That is what this Proposition is about.

This is happening everywhere and the leaders of the church and others have warned that the outcome of California's vote will affect the way the other states vote. So PLEASE…even if you don't live in California, put this on your blog or email this on. The internet knows no state line. You know contacts in California that I don't…and so do your friends. Please pass this on as it could eventually have an effect on everyone!

Click Here for excerpts from the Broadcast given by Elders M. Russell Ballard, Quentin L. Cook and L. Whitney Clayton.A good resource mentioned in the broadcast: http://www.preservingmarriage.org/

October 20th: Last day to apply for an absentee ballot if voting out of state. Click Here to get one. http://www.sos.ca.gov/nvrc/fedform/

October 27th: Last day to apply for 'Vote by Mail' Click Here for info. http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_m.htm#apply

November 4th: Election day. Polls close at 8:00pm. Vote by mail must be received by this time and can be hand delivered if necessary.Hopefully, this information has been helpful. Even if you don't live in California you can make a difference by emailing this to all your contacts and getting the word out. Whether you are into politics or not...this issue is so INCREDIBLY important. So get the word out: VOTE YES ON PROP 8 in California. Thanks for your time. Amber

Halloween is Coming

From the first day of October, Karen has been looking forward to Halloween and is really excited for it. She often tells me that she just can't wait for Halloween. She loves to dress up in her costumes and can't decide whether she wants to be a pink poodle or a black kitty cat. She looks darling in both. Then there is Michael who was kicking and screaming when I tried his doggy costume on him, but he's still excited about getting candy. They can't wait, so we got them dressed up one day and took some pictures of them in their costumes. The background is a display in front of the Wal-Mart near us. Isn't it so cute. We also began carving pumpkins, here are our 1st 2 attempts.

Crazy Eights!!

So I was "tagged" by my sister to do this Crazy Eights thing so here it goes!!

8 TV Shows I Love to Watch:
1. Heroes
2. The Dead Zone
3. Eureka!
4. Dr. Who
5. What Not to Wear
6. What I Like About You
7. The Office
8. The Red Green Show

8 Favorite Places I Love To Eat:
1. The Cheesecake Factory
2. Chili’s
3. The Cheesecake Factory
4. Applebee's
5. The Cheesecake Factory
6. IHOP
7. The Cheesecake Factory
8. The Cheesecake Factory take out so I don't have to worry about how the kids will act in the restaurant

8 Things That Happened Yesterday:
1. Got up early to take my husband to work
2. Did that to get tires on his car replaced
3. Took Karen to Preschool
4. Took Michael home crying that it’s his turn to go to school
5. Chatted online while playing on facebook
6. Heard the stock market went up a record 900 points
7. Picked up my husband from work
8. Posted political signs for Phil Conder who's running for State Legislature in our district

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. Saturday’s when Neils is home
2. Everyday when Neils gets home so the kids can cling to him instead of me
3. Having intimate time with my husband
4. The quiet of naptime
5. Spring time
6. Going to the Temple
7. Holidays/Vacations
8. Game nights

8 Things I Love About Fall:
1. The cool weather
2. The crisp, clear air
3. Red, gold and browns of the changing leaves
4. General Conference weekend
5. Thanksgiving
6. Halloween parties
7. Shorter days so that when our kids go to bed they can’t say “but it’s still light outside”
8. No more 100 degree weather

8 Things On My Wish List:
1. Cruise to Europe
2. Vacation to England, Scotland, and Ireland
3. Going back to school
4. Selling our home & buying a new one
5. To talk to my parents again
6. For my husband to get a substantial raise
7. Free maid service
8. To be good enough to live with Heavenly Father again

There was one more section of 8 people to tag, but I didn't want to do it, so if anyone wants to be tagged, pretend I put your name here: _____________.